Upper Iowa's dance team competed for the first time this year at the Iowa State Dance and Drill Team Association, or ISDTA, on Thursday, Nov. 30 at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
The team competed in the Division II/III Jazz division and placed sixth. Routines were evaluated and judged by industry professionals from all corners of the United States, while each group earned points for choreography, execution, difficulty, and showmanship. 
 
"The college divisions at the ISDTA competition are always very competitive," said Head Cheer and Dance Coach Bri Lawrence. "It is a great way to push our dancers for their first competition of the year, we are going to use the feedback to hopefully do even better at our second competition this year."
 
The UIU dance team earned the university's best-ever mark of 83.5 while garnering a Division I rating, besting last year's mark of 81.
 
"I am very proud of how hard they have worked going into this competition," Lawrence noted. "Outsiders watching their routine for the first time would never know we had two girls competing with our team for the first time (one of which competed for dance for the first time ever) and an injury not even a week before we left, causing us to put in our alternate. This kind of situation is always stressful, but they worked very hard to help one another and put their best out on the floor this week."
 
Both the cheer and dance teams are set to compete virtually at the national level through DTU (Dance Team Union) this spring on March 6.